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This is my second favorite album ever. I just can't say enough good things about this.

12. Bull Session
11. Help Me, Ronda - I'm really glad Brian reworked this on SDSN, this version just doesn't do much for me.
10. Dance, Dance, Dance - Great single. I really love that bass!
9. Good To My Baby - Great Song
8. Don't Hurt My Little Sister - Great Song. I really love Brian's part at the end.
7. Do You Wanna Dance? - I've heard Brian say this is the song that reminds him of Dennis the most. Such a cool cover.
6. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) - What an awesome song! So ahead of it's time.
5. I'm So Young - Probably my favorite cover ever. Goes perfectly with the rest of side 2.
4. In The Back Of My Mind - Such a beautiful song. I really love the new stereo version. I only wish the guys would have done some background vocals on it.
3. She Knows Me Too Well - Brian's falsetto is so pretty in this!
2. Kiss Me, Baby - This is pretty much perfect to me. The intro, harmonies, everything.
1. Please Let Me Wonder - First time I heard this, it just blew me away. I had to keep playing it over. Perfection.

1. Kiss Me, Baby
2. She Knows Me Too Well
3. In The Back of My Mind
4. Please Let Me Wonder
5. When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
6. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
7. Good To My Baby
8. Dance, Dance, Dance
9. Do You Wanna Dance?
10. Help Me, Ronda
11. I'm So Young
12. Bull Sessions with Big Daddy

1. Do You Wanna Dance - childhood favorite
2. She Knows Me Too Well - a more serious 'Don't Worry Baby' type song
3. In The Back Of My Mind - I pray the instrumental track is on the boxset!!
4. Please Let Me Wonder
5. When I Grow Up To Be A Man - such a beautiful coda
6. Good To My Baby - the harmonies mixing with the insanely creative backing track make for a phenomenal track
7. Kiss Me Baby
8. I'm So Young
9. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
10. Dance Dance Dance
11. Help Me Ronda - great song, but the SDSN version blows this out of the water
12. Bull Sessions - my favorite filler on any BB album.

1. In The Back Of My Mind - Oh man, the feelings this song conjures. The melody is so haunting and gorgeous and the fragility of Dennis' voice nails it.
2. Kiss Me Baby - The lyrics, the chorus and the trading of lines is amazing.
3. Please Let Me Wonder - So loving and sweet but the solo kind of kills it. The solo is like the album version of Wendy, awful (See the Ed Sullivan Show version)
4. When I Grow Up To Be A Man - A theme well done and with a great tag and ending coda.
5. She Knows Me Too Well - Amazing melody and great vocal performances by both Brian and Mike.
6. Good To My Baby - One of the best choruses in any song.
7. Dance Dance Dance - A fun little track with a good, catchy riff and great use of key changes.
8. Do You Wanna Dance - A great rocker, although Dennis is drowned out.
9. I'm So Young - I prefer the alternate version on the Twofer, to be honest.
10. Help Me Ronda - The Summer Days (And Summer Nights !!) version is much better. Drags on much too long and those false endings annoy the heck out of me.
11. Don't Hurt My Little Sister - Risque lyrics which don't go well with kinda poor backing.
12. Bull Sessions - Actually pretty funny, I enjoy each second but gets placed here because it isn't a song. "Everything's gonna be alright, Marilyn".

1. Please let Me Wonder
2. *Guess I'm Dumb (woulda, coulda, shoulda been)
3. In the Back of My Mind
4. When I Grow Up
5. She Knows Me Too Well
6. Kiss Me, Baby
7. Good to My Baby
8. I'm So Young
9. Dance, Dance, Dance
10. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
11. Do You Wanna Dance
12. Help Me, Ronda

Kiss me, Baby
Please Let me Wonder
When I Grow Up (To be a Man)
She Knows me So Well
Dance, Dance, Dance
In the Back of my Mind
Good to my Baby
I'm So Young
Help me, Ronda
Don't Hurt my Little Sister
Do You Wanna Dance?
Bull Session with "Big Daddy" (JUST WHY?)  >:(

1. Kiss Me, Baby
2. Dance, Dance, Dance
3. Please Let Me Wonder
4. When I Grow Up
5. Do You Wanna Dance
6. I'm So Young
7. Good To My Baby
8. She Knows Me Too Well
9. In the Back of My Mind
10. Help Me,  Rhonda
11. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
12. Bull Sessions

What a great album. Seriously. This isn't even their best (IMO) and most bands would kill to have a record 1/4 as good as this.

Isn't the instrumental track on Unsurpassed Masters?

1. "Do You Wanna Dance?"
2. "When I Grow Up (to Be a Man”
3. "She Knows Me Too Well”
4. "Please Let Me Wonder”
5. "Kiss Me, Baby"   
6. "I'm So Young"
7.  "In the Back of My Mind”
8. "Dance, Dance, Dance" 
9. "Good to My Baby"   
10. "Don't Hurt My Little Sister" 
11. "Help Me, Ronda"   
12. "Bull Session with the 'Big Daddy'"

Similar to All Summer Long for me. Ten all-time, unrankable tracks, with two lesser ones, in this case Ronda and Bull Session. I do cherish Brian's sense of humor in the placement of the latter, tho.

1. Please Let Me Wonder - Just marvelous
2. Do You Wanna Dance? - Finally a perfect vehicle for Dennis
3. Kiss Me, Baby - Beautiful production and vocals
4. Dance, Dance, Dance - Great hook, great track
5. When I Grow Up (To Be a Man) - Great production, arrangement, and harmonies but I'm not real keen on the lyrics
6. In The Back of My Mind - Not as great as some people say it is (to me); tho as pointed out, backing vocals would have put it over the top
7. Good To My Baby - Decent
8. Help Me, Ronda - I LOVE this song but the production on this incarnation just sounds so wrong
9. She Knows Me Too Well - This and the following show promise but just aren't up to stuff as Pet Sounds and the better stuff on this album
10. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
11. I'm So Young
12. Bull Sessions with Big Daddy - Again, try to picture the fabs including garbage like this in ANY of their albums.  (And The Beatles' Story doesn't count  :P )

I also agree that "Guess I'm Dumb" would have been an absolute high point on this album.  In fact, I use it in place of  Big Daddy.

1) Please Let Me Wonder
2) Do You Wanna Dance
3) Dance, Dance, Dance
4) She Knows Me Too Well
5) When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
6) Don't Hurt My Little Sister
7) Good To My Baby
8) Kiss Me, Baby
9) I'm So Young
10) Help Me, Ronda
11) In The back Of My Mind
12) Bull Session

In reverse order, like the OP has done it:

12. Bull Session
It is funny (my favourite lines: 'You stepped on my French Fries', 'Earl Tree… hi fig!' and '…of all Europe, the only thing that stuck in my mind was the *bread*'), and I enjoy listening to it once every couple of years, but… it's not a song.

11. Help Me, Ronda
I'm not *that* crazy about the later single version, but that has just enough cool stuff to make it work (I love the solo piano and guitar interacting on the bridge of that version). But this version… it's just dull, and no amount of futzing with the volume on the fade is going to make it interesting.

10. I'm So Young
I've always thought this song over-rated. The timing is really off and wooden throughout - the drumming's awful! And not just on the twofer bonus track version, either - they're both terrible to my mind. Nice singing throughout… but that doesn't rescue it.

9. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
A fun little romp, but not much more than that. Spector-lite, but from before Brian had truly learned to better his teacher.

8. When I Grow Up
I know this one has attracted praise for its treatment of the adult theme of growing older at a time when it wasn't the done thing to encapsulate such themes in a pop song… but if I concede that it's lyrically ahead of its time, I have to wish it was a better song. It's got the off-the-wall Brian Wilson harmonic touch, but for me Brian's skill is most apparent when he makes utterly bizarre chord progressions sound completely effortless and normal, simple even, to the extent that it's only when you try to work out what the music's doing that you realise how complex it is ('Wonderful' and 'This Whole World' are great examples of this talent at work). In this song, the chord progressions sound knowingly bizarre - every time I hear the harpsichord break, I feel like Brian is mugging at my mind's eye like the nude organist at the beginning of Monty Python's Flying Circus, winking and going 'Crazy, huh? Ya see what I did there?'. And the overly repetitive bluesy harmonica rejoinders to the verse lines bug the living hell out of me!!! I do really like the 'Won't Last Forever…' coda, but it's not enough to save the song for me. Painfully honest omission: I actually prefer the 'Won't Last Forever' coda in the context of another Beach Boys song altogether… 'Winds of Change'. And mad as it may sound to choose something from MIU in preference to a track from Today, that's my truth. Now tell me yours.

7. Good To My Baby
I really like this one; it might not be super-deep but it rocks along and is a great performance from everyone, instrumentally and vocally. This is also one of those Brian songs that might sound like a ten-cent rocker on first listening but has some great surprises in store when you try to figure out the changes. Up to here in my countdown, I can take or leave the tracks, or only listen to them infrequently. From here on, they're essential early Beach Boys material for me.

6. Kiss Me, Baby
Well, having said that, I'm not as crazy about this song as some. There's been so much attention focused on this song in recent years: Brian always plays it live, the Endless Harmony documentary and soundtrack made a big deal about it. I like it, it's OK, but I don't feel über-love for it, perhaps because the other originals on side 2 overshadow it so much for me? And the more I found out about it, the more 'meh' I became about it. I had never noticed the 'Kiss A Little Bit, Fight A Little Bit' backing vocal in the chorus until Brian pushed up a fader on the EH documentary. I just hadn't noticed it in the mono mix. But… I don't like that line, and now I can't ever hear the song without it in my head. Bummer.

I guess it has to be the best Brian Wilson song written in a brothel, though. Well, of those we know about, anyway…   ;)

5. Dance, Dance, Dance
Oh man, as rockers go, this one absolutely cooks. It's got 1964 Top 10 hit written all over it. Someone once said of Brian (I think it was either Mark Volman or John Cale… can anyone remember?) that in the 60s, record company people always said to struggling musicians "oh, don't worry, no-one *really* knows what's going to be a hit single and what isn't", but this person felt that that wasn't true: in 1964-5, one man *did* know how to make a guaranteed hit: Brian Wilson. And when I think of that quote, it's tracks like this I think of: beefy, jingle-bell-laden mega-productions, testosterone-fuelled hit singles that Brian cranked out at the apex of his competitive phase, firing on all Spector-influenced cylinders…

4. Do You Wanna Dance
…and then topping them with an even rockingier (not a word) production that makes the previous one sound like a hymn. MORE lead guitar! MORE testosterone! (get Dennis in on lead!!!) MORE percussion (kettledrums, this time, I think) MORE super-high falsetto!! (throughout, then even more still on the tag).

An album of stuff like these last two tracks would be wearing, but it's so beautifully balanced on Today! by the reflective stuff on Side 2. On top of all the hard work that went into the compositions and performances on this album, it's a very thoughtfully *compiled* work, too…

3. Please Let Me Wonder
Into the top 3 now, and they're all such, such strong tracks, it's hard to decide between them - if the Brian Wilson had never done anything great again after this trio, I would still remember him for these. A beautiful song expressing a beautiful sentiment, exquisitely expressed with a heartstoppingly lovely vocal performance by Brian. The solo doesn't bother me in the slightest; it fits perfectly as far as I'm concerned. The only things I slightly rate down here are Carl's 'I love you' (which probably sounded heartfelt and genuine in 1965, but sounds cheesy to truly over-ripe gorgonzola-like levels today), and the ending to the track; it sounds as though Brian couldn't think of a good way of ending it, and it just fades out in an awkward place on a vibes break. The conclusion to Brian's live performances of this song for the last few years, where the number ends on an a cappella rendition of the chorus vocals, always seems like a better way to round it off to me.

2. In the Back of My Mind
Musically inventive and innovative, full of unmistakably Wilsonesque chords, progressions, arrangements, production touches and time signature, *and* also dealing with awkward, groundbreakingly uncertain lyrical themes for a 1965 pop song (as in When I Grow Up, but wedded to a more satisfying song to my way of thinking), this is a towering achievement of a song, and only loses out to my number 1 track because of the bridge. I find the phrasing of the lyrics there rushed and awkward, and Dennis never nailed the double-tracking either, which made it worse. It sounds better with a single-tracked vocal, as on the 2012 stereo mix, but I think I'd still prefer the bridge to remain instrumental. But despite all of this, this is a world-beater of a song; one of Brian's finest ever to my way of thinking, and given the pedigree of his catalogue, that's not a compliment I bestow lightly.

1. She Knows Me Too Well
…and yet, I think this one is better still. It has all of the positive qualities of In The Back Of My Mind, but not a blemish to lessen its impact. Emotionally touching without being over-bearing, it maintains the themes of awkwardness in relationships that can be found all over Side 2 of Today, and which nobody else in pop had really yet mined to any extent in the mid-1960s. The backing track is perhaps less ornate than that of In The Back Of My Mind, but seems to be doing something even more musically inventive, the awkwardness of the narrator's tale being brilliantly reflected in the uncertain, diminished chord voicings and strange-sounding, almost sour augmented harmonies. This could so easily have sounded unpleasantly dissonant, but in the hands of 1965 Brian Wilson, it comes out sounding plaintive and deeply moving, and enhances the song instead of detracting from it. In my opinion, a masterpiece on a record that already has more than its fair share of them.

A+
When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
Kiss Me, Baby
Please Let Me Wonder

A
Dance, Dance, Dance
Good to My Baby
She Knows Me Too Well
I’m So Young
In the Back of My Mind
Do You Wanna Dance

A-
Help Me, Ronda

B+
Don’t Hurt My Little Sister

C-
Bull Session with “Big Daddy”

1. Help Me, Rhonda
2. Kiss Me, Baby
3. Dance, Dance, Dance
4. She Knows Me Too Well
5. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
6. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
7. Please Let Me Wonder
8. Good To My Baby
9. Do You Wanna Dance
10. I'm So Young (maybe the best No. 10 song you'll find on any album)
11. In The Back Of My Mind
12. Bull Session With Big Daddy (a terrible mistake to end the album with this, just a terrible choice)

As I'm typing this, I finally decided on my second favorite BB album after Pet Sounds. This one! What an incredible selection of songs. And to think that "Guess I'm Dumb" could've also been worked into the set. The Beach Boys Today should be mentioned in all those polls that rank the top albums. It should be WAY up there.

In the Back of my Mind - all these are stunning, the first two the most imo.
She Knows me So Well
Please Let me Wonder
Kiss me, Baby

Do You Wanna Dance?
When I Grow Up (To be a Man) - very solid songs! I wish brian had done that falsetto on the alternate version on Help Me Ronda
Good to my Baby
Help me, Ronda

Dance, Dance, Dance - rather dull
I'm So Young


Don't Hurt my Little Sister - pretty sh*t


Bull Session with "Big Daddy - utter crap

01.  Please Let me Wonder
02.  Kiss Me Baby
03.  She Knows Me Too Well
04.  In the Back of My Mind
05.  When I Grow Up to Be a Man
06.  Dance, Dance, Dance
07.  Good to My Baby
08.  I'm So Young
09.  Help Me Rhonda - the second version's a classic; this one?  Not so much.
10.  Don't Hurt My Little Sister
11.  Do You Wanna Dance
12.  Bull Session with the Big Daddy

Simply it is hard to find a better album. All the elements are there and everybody's singing, writing, and playing at top form. They were already a great band, but this is a whole new level.
01.  Please Let Me Wonder
02.  When I Grow Up
03.  Dance, Dance, Dance,
04.  She Knows Me Too Well
05.  In The Back Of My Mind
06.  Good To My Baby
07.  Kiss Me Baby
08.  Do You Wanna Dance
09.  Don't Hurt My Little Sister
10.  I'm So Young
11.  Help Me Ronda (good but not what it will become)
12.  Bull Session with the "Big Daddy"

1. Do You Wanna Dance?- Yes! Not the most profound cut on the album, but completely irresistable.
2. When I Grow Up (To be a Man)- one of the most fascinating, exciting, wonderful Brian Wilson hit single productions, can't get enough.
3. In the Back of my Mind- I'm blessed with everything, indeed.
4. She Knows me So Well - it's hard to rank most of these "side 2" songs, they're like different movements in a symphony.
5=Please Let me Wonder
5=Kiss me, Baby
7. Dance, Dance, Dance - could sound a bit warmer to these ears, but still rockin'
8. Help me, Ronda - A great song anyway.
9. Good to my Baby - superior potboiler
10. Don't Hurt my Little Sister - likewise
11. I'm So Young - prefer the Ronettes version

Please Let Me Wonder
She Knows Me So Well
Kiss Me, Baby
When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
Dance, Dance, Dance
I'm So Young
Good To My Baby
Don't Hurt My Little Sister
Do You Wanna Dance?
In the Back of My Mind
Help Me, Ronda
Bull Session with "Big Daddy"

If The Beach Boys had only ever released one song, "Please Let Me Wonder", they would still be deserving of the acclaim they receive. That song is monstrous.

100% agree - That song is everything to me. I sometimes kick out my Today! LP and just play that song on loop!

It's so good, that I just want to open it up and live in it.

Well, I did always hear 'I build all my goals around you' as 'walls around you' - maybe Brian was trying to make a PLMW house ;D

Great stuff there from Matt Bielewicz.  I'm not normally a big fan of these rank-the-tracks / make-a-list-of-some-Beach-Boys-songs threads, but that was a superb rundown, and one with which I almost completely agree.

I'd totally live there!

And, a big thanks to everyone here for keeping these going, and interesting!

1. In The Back of My Mind

This is probably the only other song Brian has written that would fit right in with Pet Sounds. Everything is just so perfect; the orchestration, Dennis' vocal (listening to the single-tracked version blew my mind) and the way it climaxes before transitioning into Bull Session. A classic.
2. When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)

I love how this song is both enthusiastic about growing up, but still anxious and thoughtful, it really reminds me of what I think of when thinking about the future. The backing vocals counting up are also one of my favorite parts of the album.
3. Please Let Me Wonder
4. She Knows Me Too Well
5. Kiss Me, Baby
6. I'm So Young

Not much to say about these, but damn, Mike really could write good lyrics for ballads. (And I really like the ISY cover. Not sure why it gets so much hate/indifference.)
7. Good To My Baby
8. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
9. Help Me, Ronda
10. Do You Wanna Dance?
11. Dance, Dance, Dance
12. Bull Sessions with Big Daddy

Probably one of the most awkwardly sequenced tracks ever, I can't help but love how goofy they all are acting here. "You stepped on my French Fries!"

1) Kiss Me, Baby
2) In the Back of My Mind
3) Please Let Me Wonder
4) When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
5) She Knows Me Too Well
6) I'm So Young
7) Good to My Baby
8) Do You Wanna Dance
9) Help Me, Ronda
10) Dance, Dance, Dance
11) Don't Hurt My Little Sister
12) Bull Session with the "Big Daddy"

1. Kiss Me Baby
2. In The Back of My Mind
3. Do You Wanna Dance
4. Please Let Me Wonder
5. She Knows Me Too Well
6. Good To My Baby
7. I'm So Young
8. Dance, Dance, Dance
9. When I Grow Up
10. Help Me, Ronda
11. Don't Hurt My Litter Sister
12. Bull Session with the "Big Daddy"

1. Kiss Me Baby
2. Please Let Me Wonder
3. She Knows Me Too Well
4. In the Back of My Mind
5. I'm So Young
6. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
7. Do You Wanna Dance
8. Dance, Dance, Dance
9. Good to My Baby
10. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
11. Help Me, Ronda
12. Bull Sessions with "Big Daddy"

What a fantastic record and a massive leap forward.  Since I don't really consider Bull Sessions to be anything other than an innocuous outro, I'd say only the original Help Me, Ronda doesn't quite work.  Everything else pretty much cooks and the standouts are among the best songs they ever did.  That run of ballads on side two is ridiculous!

1. Please Let Me Wonder
2. In the Back of My Mind
3. Kiss Me Baby
4. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
5. She Knows Me Too Well
6. Dance Dance Dance
7. Good To My Baby

top 7. rest just blur together for me.

1. She Knows Me Too Well
2. Please Let Me Wonder
3. Kiss Me, Baby
4. In The Back of My Mind
5. I'm So Young
6. Do You Wanna Dance?
7. Good To My Baby
8. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
9. When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
10. Dance, Dance, Dance
11. Help Me, Ronda
12. Bull Sessions with Big Daddy

1. She Knows Me Too Well - When I think of Today!, I think of this track. Brian's soaring falsetto really stands out here, and the lyrics are sublime.
2. Please Let Me Wonder - I loved this track when they did it on the 50 anniversary tour this year. Brian can still sing this ballad with sweetness in his voice, just like in 1965.
3. In the Back of My Mind - Dennis' vocal is almost haunting on this one. I like the lyrics, even if the narrator seems paranoid. The stereo mix of this released this year is my favorite version.
4. When I Grow Up to be a Man - The sense of wonder in the lyrics, the uncertainty about the future, and the rocking pace of this track make it one of my favorites and a stand out.
5. Do You Wanna Dance - Dennis rocking out.
6. Kiss Me Baby - I'm not as crazy about this track as many others on this board are, but it's very nice and well produced.
7. I'm So Young - I like the Beach Boys' version better than the Ronettes version.
8. Dance Dance Dance - Another great rocker, but not really as deep as the rest of the songs on this album, sans Do You Wanna Dance.
9. Help Me Ronda - I like the Summer Days version better, but this arrangement has it's charms. I'm not annoyed by the false fade outs at the end.
10. Good To My Baby - A little too Doo Woppish for my liking, but still a solid track.
11. Don't Hurt My Little Sister - This one is fine enough, but it doesn't really do much for me compared to the other songs on this album.
12. Bull Sessions With Big Daddy - I don't consider this track to be amusing. It's kind of just there. I'll listen to it every once in a while, but most of the time I just turn the album off when I get to this point.

1. She Knows Me Too Well
2. Please Let Me Wonder
3. When I Grow Up
4. Kiss Me Baby
5. In The Back Of My Mind
6. Good To My Baby
7. Dance Dance Dance
8. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
9. I'm So Young
10. Do You Wanna Dance
11. Help Me Ronda
12. Bull Sessions...

Although none of the songs on the album are anything other than great in my opinion, but if i reallly gotta pick then them's me choices...

12. Bull sessions
11. Dont hurt my little sister
10. Help me ronda
9. Do you wanna dance
8. In the back of my mind
7. Dance dance dance
6. Good to my baby
5. Im so young
4. When i grow up to be a man
3. She knows me too well
2. Please let me wonder
1. Kiss me baby

1. In The Back of My Mind
2. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
3. Dance, Dance, Dance
4. Good To My Baby
5. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
6. She Knows Me Too Well
7. Help Me, Ronda
8. Please Let Me Wonder
9. Kiss Me Baby
10.Do You Wanna Dance
11.I'm So Young
12.Bull Session with the "Big Daddy"

Great songs
1. Please Let Me Wonder
2. In the Back of My Mind
3. Kiss Me, Baby

Good catchy songs
4. When I Grow Up
5. Dance, Dance, Dance
6. Good to My Baby

Great chord changes
7. She Knows Me Too Well
8. Don't Hurt My Little Sister

I like the single version better
9. Help Me, Ronda

Good cover version
10. Do You Wanna Dance

Not so good cover
11. I'm So Young

Interesting, but give me a song such as All Dressed Up for School
12. Bull Sh*t with the 'Big Daddy'

what?

They aren't risque, but I guess he's referring to "why don't you love her/like her big brother?".

If one can go along with forcing a story/concept into Pet Sounds, one should be able to see a thematic link between Good To My Baby and Don't Hurt My Little Sister. It is obvious from checking out the lyrics of the ballads on the second side of Today! that Brian's fracturing psyche was focused at that time on paranoia about his relationship with Marilyn. This is plain on songs such as Kiss Me Baby, She Knows Me Too Well, In The Back Of My Mind and Please Let Me Wonder. But it is also plain in the two uptempo songs previously mentioned. Here, Brian's paranoia is focused on other people's vision of the relationship, and the view of himself as the unthinking, insensitive male aggressor. In Good To My Baby, he takes the understandable first-person defensive angle ("They think that I'm bad and I treat her so mean/but all they know is from what they've seen"). With Little Sister, he takes a surprisingly empathetic turn, expressing the reservations of Marilyn's big sister Diane, a woman who was able to converse with Brian in a much more direct fashion than her sister. This view is confirmed by the fact that the tune was originally written to be sung by a woman, Ronnie Spector. He only changed the lyric to a "big brother" perspective when Spector rejected it and he was forced to cut it with the Boys.
I am astounded that people so underrate Little Sister. I honestly never met any fan of Today! who didn't rate the song high before reading comments on this board. It is a major piece of Brian's confessional approach to songwriting, an attack on himself.

There's also talking in the intro.

was Marilyn the oldest out of the three Rovell sisters? That's something I've always wondered.

I think Marilyn is the "little sister" from the Today! song, which means Diane is older and Barbara (who Brian also fancied) was younger still (!) but by how many years I don't know. Is that right?

I was under the impression it was Marilyn - Diane - Barbara, from oldest to youngest.

No, Diane is the oldest.

Yeah, I think it's Diane, Marilyn and Barbara.

1. In the Back of My Mind
2. She Knows Me Too Well
3. Please Let Me Wonder
4. Kiss Me Baby
5. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
6. When I Grow Up to be a Man
7. Dance Dance Dance
8. Do You Wanna Dance
9. Help Me Ronda
10. Good To My Baby
11. I'm So Young
12. Bull Sessions With Big Daddy

I can't separate them into numbers because they are all so good.

Really Great:
She Knows Me Too Well
Please Let Me Wonder
In the Back of My Mind
Kiss Me, Baby
Dance, Dance, Dance
I'm So Young
When I Grow Up

Great:
Do You Wanna Dance
Good to My Baby
Don't Hurt My Little Sister

11. Help Me, Ronda
12. Bull Sessions

After 33 ballots, here is a slightly massaged ranking (having to estimate a few of the point totals due to a few ballots that didn't go in strict 1-12 order) for the Today! songs:

Please Let Me Wonder (10.1), She Knows Me Too Well & Kiss Me Baby (9.2), When I Grow Up (8.7), In the Back of My Mind (8.6),

Dance Dance Dance (6.5), Do You Wanna Dance (6.1), Good to My Baby (6.0),

I'm So Young (4.9), Don't Hurt My Little Sister (4.2), Help Me Ronda (3.5),

Bull Session (1.1)

Haha...sorry. My "list" was pretty close to what I'd give in a 1-12 order, but they change so much. I will say She Knows Me Too Well and Please Let Me Wonder are pretty well always 1 and 2 for me.

1. She Knows Me Too Well
2. Please Let Me Wonder
3. In the Back of My Mind
4. Kiss Me, Baby
5. Dance, Dance, Dance
6. I'm So Young
7. When I Grow Up
8. Do You Wanna Dance
9. Good to My Baby
10. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
11. Help Me, Ronda
12. Bull Sessions

1.Kiss me baby
2.in the back of my mind
3.please let me wonder
4.she knows me too well
5.when i grow up
6.good to my baby
7.don't hurt my little sister
8.dance dance dance
9.do you wanna dance
10.help me ronda
11.i'm so young
12. Bull Sessions

1. In The Back Of My Mind -- One of the most powerful closing songs on a Beach Boys record, right up there with Caroline No and Surf's Up. Makes me shiver.
2. Please Let Me  -- Melodic perfection and a beautiful Spector-like production. The ending is also pretty gorgeous.
3. I'm So Young -- Great, great vocals and one of my favorite Wilson arrangements. They really make this basic doo wop into something special.
4. Good To My Baby -- There is something
5. Do You Wanna Dance? -- Simple rock and roll, but damn is it catchy. Wilson's arrangement is as impeccable as always.
6. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) -- I can't relate to the lyrics, but the music is sparkling and pretty. 
7. She Knows Me Too Well -- I don't like the lyrics, but the production, melody, and awesome jazzy guitar solo almost make up for it.
8. Kiss Me Baby -- This song is beautiful, but I find myself revisiting it less than Please Let Me Wonder and In The Back Of My Mind.
9. Dance Dance Dance -- Dumb, dumb lyrics but the performance really kicks.
10. Don't Hurt My Little Sister -- The lyrics are ridiculously immature and the melody isn't very interesting. It actually sounds pretty kitsch.
11. Help Me Ronda -- God, the fade in-fade out effect sucks. The song obviously didn't receive enough attention or consideration at this stage.
12. ... what do you expect?

1. In The Back Of My Mind - My 3rd favorite Beach Boys song. A stunning, brilliant tune, with an amazing arrangement and melody by Brian, and a great Dennis lead vocal.
2. Kiss Me Baby - Truly beautiful song, another outstanding backing track and the vocals by Brian and Mike with the interplay by the others is simply spectacular.
3. Please Let Me Wonder - Lovely, lovely tune. One of Brian's best ballads.
4. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) - Wow, all these years later and this song still amazes me with it's arrangement and vocals.
5. She Knows Me Too Well - I think the lyrics are quite good. They're spoken simply, directly, and it works so well. Really unusual song for a major pop band in 1965, actually. LOVE it.
6. Dance, Dance, Dance - The most fun song on the album, bar none. Love dem sleigh bells.
7. I'm So Young - Wonderful cover. Nicely done.
8. Do You Wanna Dance - I love how compressed and huge it sounds in mono. 'Nother great cover.
9. Good To My Baby - A bit underrated, really cool song all around.
10. Help Me Ronda - Yeah, inferior to the single version later, but still damn good. I do like the false fade, for some reason.
11. Don't Hurt My Little Sister - Pretty good song. I like it.
12. Bull Session With "Big Daddy" - Of course filler, but not wholly bad. Wish the boys kept 'Guess I'm Dumb' for themselves, have Brian sing it, but it earlier on side 2, have the album end with 'In The Back of My Mind', which is a perfect closer, and get Bull Session outta here. If only.

AMAZING album, seriously one of the top 5 best Beach Boys LPs ever.
Might even be better than Sunflower...I think so...maybe...yeah.

1. Please Let Me Wonder - 362.5 (9)
2. Kiss Me, Baby - 333.5 (9)
3. She Knows Me Too Well - 330 (5)
4. In the Back of My Mind - 322 (7)
5. When I Grow Up (To Be a Man) - 305 (1)
6. Dance, Dance, Dance - 236
7. Do You Wanna Dance? - 222 (3)
8. Good to My Baby - 220 (1)
9. I'm So Young - 170
10. Don't Hurt My Little Sister - 144
11. Help Me, Ronda - 125 (1)
12. Bull Sessions with Big Daddy - 39

My thoughts?  No surprise that the ballads reign supreme here.  I think this is a pretty accurate rundown of a great album.

From Worst to Best:
12: Bull Sessions With Big Daddy.
11: Help Me Ronda.
10: Dance, Dance, Dance.
09: I'm So Young.
08: Don't Hurt My Little Sister.
07: Good To My Baby.
06: When I Grow Up (To Be A Man).
05: She Knows Me Too Well.
04: Kiss Me Baby.
03: Do You Wanna Dance.
02: In The Back Of My Mind.
01: Please Let Me Wonder.

1. Please Let Me Wonder
2. Kiss Me Baby
3. When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
4. She Knows Me Too Well
5. I'm So Young
6. In the Back of My Mind
7. Dance, Dance, Dance
8. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
9. Do You Wanna Dance?
10. Good to My Baby
11. Help Me, Ronda
12. Bull Session with the "Big Daddy"

My second favorite pre-Pet Sounds album by The Boys (Summer Days being my first).

1. She Knows Me Too Well
2. Please Let Me Wonder
3. Kiss Me Baby
4. Good To My Baby
5. In The Back Of My Mind
6. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
7. Dance Dance Dance
8. Do You Wanna Dance
9. Help Me Ronda
10. When I Grow Up
11. I'm So Young
12. Bull Sessions With Big Daddy

1. When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
2. Please Let Me Wonder
3. Kiss Me, Baby
4. Dance, Dance, Dance
5. Good to My Baby
6. She Knows Me Too Well
7. I’m So Young
8. In the Back of My Mind
9. Do You Wanna Dance
10. Help Me, Ronda
11. Don’t Hurt My Little Sister
12. Bull Session with “Big Daddy”

One of my favorite BB albums.  The first album that shows that The Beach Boys were much more than a surf/car band.  Darn near perfect if not for another one of those studio chatter time fillers. 


12. Bull Sessions with Bid Daddy - Time waster. 
11. Good to My Baby - Good song, not a favorite
10. Don't Hurt My Little Sister - Pretty good arrangement, but the song doesn't hold up to the better ones on the album
 9. Help Me, Ronda - Good first attempt, but far inferior to the single/SDSN version.  The fades at the end don't help.
 8. She Knows Me Too Well - Really good song that I hate to rate so low.  I just like the others better. 
 7. I'm So Young - Probably a tie with She Knows Me Too Well
 6. In the Back of My Mind - Brilliant ballad, one of many on this album
 5. Dance, Dance, Dance - This song should've been mediocre album filler, but the Spector-like arrangement is brilliant. 
 4. Do You Wanna Dance - The first, and not the last, time a Dennis vocal would open a BB album.  One of the best covers in the Beach Boys catalog.
 3. When I Grow Up - Another brilliant arrangement.  Mature lyrics.  Hard to believe this is just a year after Fun Fun Fun. 
 2. Please Let Me Wonder - Great Brian ballad, would be #1 on most records.
 1. Kiss Me Baby - Immediately hooks you with the gorgeous vocal intro.  One of the most beautiful, heartbreaking songs in the Beach Boys catalog.  Amazing. 

01. She Knows Me Too Well
02. When I Grow Up
03. Please Let Me Wonder
04. In the Back of My Mind
05. Do You Wanna Dance
06. Dance, Dance, Dance
07. Kiss Me, Baby
08. I'm So Young
09. Help Me, Ronda
10. Good to My Baby
11. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
12. Bull Sessions

Yikes, I might be one of the few here who actually vastly prefers the Today version of Help Me Ronda over the single version.

Help Me Ronda
In The Back Of My Mind
Please Let Me Wonder
Dance Dance Dance
Good To My Baby
Do You Wanna Dance
Kiss Me Baby
Don't Hurt My Little Sister
She Knows Me Too Well
When I Grow Up To Be A Man
I'm So Young

Bull Session

Rules are rules after all. 

Even if Bull Session is a blemish on an almost perfect album. 

I never do, but the thread does say tracks, not songs. Almost everyone ranks spoken word stuff last.

12. Bull Session with "Big Daddy" (big surprise here!)
11. Help Me, Rhonda
10. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
9. Good to My Baby
8. Do You Wanna Dance?
7. I'm So Young
6. When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
5. Dance, Dance, Dance
4. Kiss Me, Baby
3. She Knows Me Too Well
2. Please Let Me Wonder (Every time I hear Carl say "I love you" at the end, I get shudders down my back!)
1. In the Back of My Mind (The track that really made me fall in love with the Beach Boys. And when I heard Brian's 1975 demo, I fell in love with them all over again.)

Great album.

1. Kiss Me, Baby - mangnificant
2. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) - a pre-PS upbeat PS song, very underrated
3. Dance, Dance, Dance

4. Do You Wanna Dance
5. Please Let Me Wonder
6. In The Back Of My Mind

7. Good To My Baby - I love the backing vocal at the beginning
8. She Knows Me Too Well
9. I'm So Young

10. Don't Hurt My Little Sister
11. Help Me, Ronda


12. Bull Sessions with "Big Daddy"